Dual functional modification of gellan gum hydrogel by introduction of methyl methacrylate and RGD contained polypeptide

Abstract For tissue fabrication and tissue regeneration, three-dimension (3D) hydrogel matrix with both cellular bioactivity and versatile fabrication ability for in-situ cell laden is always challenging and spotlight. In this study, we establish a facile approach to modify gellan gum (GG) for overcoming its disadvantages, including high gelling temperature which is incompatible for in-situ cell encapsulation and the native inactivity for cell adhesion. By esterification reaction, methacrylic anhydride modified GG (MAGG) is prepared, producing photo-reactivity for crosslinking and grafting with RGD-contained peptides. Therefore, RGD-grafted hydrogel (MAGG-RGD) is feasibly prepared. Detail characterizations show that MAGG hydrogel possesses improved physicochemical properties, with tunable strength varied with MA dose. Moreover, the introduction of RGD domains significantly improves the MG63 cells proliferation, adhesion and spreading both on two-dimension (2D) surface and in 3D matrix. Given the native photo-crosslinkable capacity, tunable physicochemical nature and good bioactivity, MAGG-RGD hydrogel is perspective in tissue fabrication and tissue engineering, and expands the potential material platform for cell carrier or tissue scaffold.